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Archiver > PABEDFOR > 2001-08 > 0998339182


From: "TLN" <>
Subject: Re: 1849 journey via Allegheny Portage??
Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 16:26:22 -0400
In-Reply-To: <144.36f40f.28b2bb71@aol.com>


Hi Jan;

I have visited the Portage RR Historical site many times. I live about 50 miles
from there.

I was not a railroad. It was actually a set of rails about 6 or 7 feet apart on
which a cradle like car rode. On that cradle they placed the canal boats and
pulled them over the Allegheny Mountains. There were no cross ties. Each
rail was attached to large square stones.

They used a steam engine and some sort of counter balance system to pull
the boats up the mountain and lower them down the other side. Large ropes
were used. This was very dangerous and many workers were killed.

The powerhouse at the top and a about 100 yards of track have been restored
at the top of the mountain at Portage, PA. It is a National Park site. There
you can view a movie and rangers will explain the system. There is no
charge for this.

See the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Park website at:

http://www.nps.gov/alpo/

Will in the area you may also want to visit the Johnstown Flood National
Park. It is close by and they show a great movie pertaining to the flood.

See the Johnstown Flood Dam site national park website at:

http://www.nps.gov/jofl/

Your great-grandfather's memoirs are of great interest to me. Possibly, you
could post them, in installments, to one of the mailing lists. This would be
very educational and interesting reading.

Sincerely,
Tom Nagy
Sarver, PA

On 20 Aug 01, at 15:13, wrote:

> >From my great-grandfather's memoirs, a recollection of their trip in 1849,
> when he was about 7 years old, and the family was moving from Buffalo Valley
> and White Springs, PA, to Stephenson County, IL:
>
> "[My parents] emigrated to America in 1838. Lived in Pa., Huntington
> Co., til 1849 when they started for Ills. In a canal boat section. Boat
> cross the Alegany mountain from Holadysburg to Johnstown. The sections of
> the boat were put on trucks and run up the inclines/planes by stationary
> engines at the top and cable rope. Double track. They would have an empty
> to go down on one track, while we were doing up on the other. (I think
> there were three inclines to go up) then in Pittsburg, we got on steamboat
> down Ohio River to Cairo, Ills. Then up the Mississippi to Galena Ills and
> before we got there we heard of the cholera being very bad and sure
> enough......."
>
> Now, doesn't this sound like they crossed the mountains on the Allegheny
> Portage Railroad? I surely wish I had known there was something left to see
> a few years ago when I was at Bedford & Somerset Counties researching the
> other side of the family. Of course, I'm hoping to go back and this time I
> will have an itinerary that includes this site.
>
> Bless you folks, for mentioning this historic site that I didn't even know to
> look for.
>
>
> Jan T
>
>
>
>
>
>
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